James Gurney

This daily weblog by Dinotopia creator James Gurney is for illustrators, plein-air painters, sketchers, comic artists, animators, art students, and writers. You'll find practical studio tips, insights into the making of the Dinotopia books, and first-hand reports from art schools and museums.

CG Art

Contact

or by email:gurneyjourney (at) gmail.comSorry, I can't give personal art advice or portfolio reviews. If you can, it's best to ask art questions in the blog comments.

Permissions

All images and text are copyright 2015 James Gurney and/or their respective owners. Dinotopia is a registered trademark of James Gurney. For use of text or images in traditional print media or for any commercial licensing rights, please email me for permission.

However, you can quote images or text without asking permission on your educational or non-commercial blog, website, or Facebook page as long as you give me credit and provide a link back. Students and teachers can also quote images or text for their non-commercial school activity. It's also OK to do an artistic copy of my paintings as a study exercise without asking permission.

Monday, September 5, 2011

He observed that the color of sky was lighter close to the horizon. He suspected that the blue would get darker at higher altitudes, but how much darker? Legend had it that if you climbed to the tops of the Alpine peaks, the sky would be black, and there was a risk of “falling into the void.”

So he made a “cyanometer,” by dipping swatches of paper into a suspension of Prussian blue in order to obtain nearly sixty evenly spaced swatches of blue ranging from white to black.

In 1787, Saussure hired two guides and undertook a three-day trek to the 15,780-foot summit of Mont Blanc. When he tested his cyanometer against the sky, it matched swatch 39, the darkest he had ever seen.

Although our modern understanding of scattering of light by air molecules still hadn’t been completely figured out, Saussure had made an important breakthrough. On top of a very tall mountain, there is less air above the observer to scatter the sunlight and produce a blue veil over the blackness of space.

When I painted the temple on the highest peak of Dinotopia, I made sure to use a darker blue for the sky, and a more abrupt transition above the horizon.

I can't imagine trekking up some mountain way back then... and at 47 years old too! I'll bet he was thrilled when holding up his meter.Love your painting, there I would go, since I could sit by a fireplace... right? you did put fireplaces in didn't you?

There's a story on Hackaday today about a homebrew high-altitude balloon flight; there's a beautiful photo showing the sky from 31 km fading through beautiful blues all the way to black: http://hackaday.com/2011/09/05/czech-ing-out-the-view-from-31-kilometers/

Hello Mr. Gurney! Just dropping by to leave a little comment. I grew up reading Dinotopia... my mom and I would spend hours together just sitting, reading the books. I distinctly remember looking at the covers and trying to draw a Skybax. From then on, I started to doodle in middle and high school, and eventually found my way to an art college. Now in my sophomore year, one of my professors linked me to your page as a good reference for colour and inspiration... and I was blown away. Seems like everything comes full circle at one point! Thank you so much for everything. :D